The studio of this painter, engraver, and visual artist is located in Ponchettes, at the foot of Nice’s Castle Hill. René invites us in, opening the doors to his lair, this laboratory where he works and creates.
Self-taught, he began with Henri Baviera in Nice. “It was with him that my vocation was born, meeting artists like André Verdet.” Then there were exhibitions at the Matarasso gallery. His engravings are produced in only about fifty copies. This visual artist is currently studying ultramarine blue: “We must try to do something different!”
He raises the question about Yves Klein concerning the ownership of this blue, assuring it is not a controversy: “Just because Yves Klein appropriated this basic color, does it mean we can no longer work with it?” René works with his fingers or a rope and multiplies the effects of undulations, waves; he plays with lines: “We find waves everywhere in nature, visible or invisible.”
This study on lines, monochrome undulations on this famous blue, can vary infinitely. “Engraving is the means to develop mastery of waves; it brings me technical mastery and enriches my pictorial creation.” What symbolizes waves and undulations more than water?
The theme of water is very strong for René Galassi: “Unconsciously, I am drawn to this unstable element; it is a challenge to be taken on and mastered.” The artist, the visual artist, the engraver has, in any case, achieved a perfect synthesis between the rope, his fingers, and the wave.
His work is ethereal, light, airy; it is relaxing, and as you browse through his engravings and sculptures, there is a therapy of happiness and well-being in René Galassi’s work. These are certainly positive waves emitted by this artist.
by Thierry Jan
